Is interning that bad ?

Perhaps I’m misunderstanding it, but IMHO, interning means that particular symbol string will be recorded/hashed once in a map like data structure and thereafter will be referenced everywhere using a pointer to it, whereas frequently used but uninterned symbol would imply a new string always. i.e. memory savings with interning, but ofcourse too many interned symbols which are not used at all would be waste.

Any clarifications to my (mis)understanding are welcome.

Thanks!